About Us
The Kinship Families Coalition of Kentucky is a community group dedicated to raising awareness of the issues surrounding kinship care in Kentucky and forwarding recommendations for policy changes to increase supports for kinship families. Members from across the state of Kentucky include relative caregivers, advocacy organizations, and support service providers.
Our Mission
To promote policies and facilitate connections to increase supports for and with kinship families in Kentucky.
Our Vision
Kentucky’s grandparents, relatives and other caregivers have all the necessary supports to ensure that children in their care can thrive into adulthood.
Our Goals
1. Advocate to improve legislative and administrative policies to increase supports and remove barriers for kinship families.
2. Support the development of and access to resources for kinship families to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of both children and caregivers.
3. Promote and apply research on best practices, national trends and state and local data to improve the understanding of the needs of kinship families.
4. Improve the awareness of the needs and issues surrounding kinship families to gain support for policy changes and increased support.
5. Build our organizational capacity to achieve our mission and vision.
Kentucky holds one of the highest rates of children in the care of grandparents and other relatives, approximately 6 percent. Strains on the education and health of children and grandparents are very common in kinship care settings. When grandparents and other relatives in Kentucky assume the roles of parents, they struggle finding community resources that can help make the family transition easier. Despite these obstacles, research shows children fare better in kinship care than in other out-of-home placements. While beneficial for children, kinship care can pose considerable financial, legal and emotional challenges for the caregivers. Many children in kinship care have been exposed to trauma and are more likely to have behavioral and mental health needs. Kinship caregivers are also more likely to be poor, single, older, less-educated and unemployed. With the number of children being care for by kin nearly doubling over the past decade, we cannot afford to let these families go unsupported. Our members wish to improve kinship care quality and family outcomes by sharing important information and community support that Kentucky families need.